Ireland 1935 6 pence
This specimen was lot 1310 in Stephen Album sale 32 (Santa Rosa, CA, September 2018), where it sold for $141. The catalog description[1] noted, "IRELAND: Irish Free State, 6 pence, 1935, key date to series, NGC graded MS64+." After winning independence from Great Britain after World War One, Ireland went thru a civil war before settling on a free state completely separate from Britain. The first coinage of the new country was in 1928; in 1939, the obverse legend was revised from "SAORSTAT EIREANN" to plain "EIRE", which title still obtains. The sixpence was converted from nickel to copper-nickel in 1942.
Recorded mintage: 520,000 plus proofs; a scarce date.
Specification: 4.54 g, nickel, 20.8 mm diameter, designed by Percy Metcalfe.
Catalog reference: KM-5.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000, 47th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- Skingley, Philip, ed., Standard Catalogue of British Coins: Coins of Scotland, Ireland and the Islands (Jersey, Guernsey, Man & Lundy), Pre-Decimal Issues, 2nd edition, London: Spink & Son, 2003.
- [1]Album, Stephen, Joseph Lang, Paul Montz, Michael Barry and Norman Douglas Nicol, Auction 32, featuring the Don Erickson Collection of German Coins, Part II and the Hazerfans Collection of Ottoman Empire Coins, Santa Rosa, CA: Stephen Album Rare Coins, Inc., 2018.
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